Sunderland star Chris Maguire has revealed he was in a dark place during his season at stricken-club Bury.
The Shakers face being expelled from the EFL on Friday unless they can prove it can pay off creditors and show adequate operational funding.
Five of Bury's fixtures have been cancelled amid the club's financial turmoil and they have already been kicked out of the EFL Cup.
Should they find a new buyer by Friday, Bury will still have to claw back the -12 points deficit they have been given in League One as a result of their financial mismanagement.
Should they not find a new buyer they face the very real possibility of extinction.
It is a disastrous situation but it is not a surprising one, according to Maguire. The Scotland international spent the 2017/18 campaign at Gigg Lane and although he played under a different regime, the same financial struggles crippled the club.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he explained that wages were often paid late and it left him in a 'dark place' during his brief stay in the North West.
"With the surroundings and the club I was at, it is no shock to see it in the news and hitting the headlines now, the Black Cats forward explained.
"At Bury it was exactly the same a year ago. What went on behind the scenes for me was not good.
"As a footballer you shouldn't be worrying about off-field stuff and worrying about when you are next getting paid.
"Just coming into training wasn't a happy place to be in. You were supposed to be paid at the end of the month but some wouldn't have it. Some boys would have been paid, some hadn't.
"You were going into the next month still not being paid and you were then trying to play catch-up.
"Then the fans expected you to be coming out on a Saturday and firing on all cylinders but it just wasn't the place.
"As I said it is no shock to see everything coming out now but at the time it was a dark place for me. Just waking up and not wanting to go into training."
